Better
by likefireandpowder24
Summary: Elle Bishop tries to put her life back together after miraculously surviving Sylar's attack. But Mystic Falls is anything but the small town it seems to be, and Elle is thrust into a new world unlike anything she's ever known. Elle/Damon
1. Better

**Author's Note: I'm not sure if I'll ever finish this. I have an idea of where it's going but if I ever stop, and someone wants to take over, feel free! **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

"Better", Elle replied.

What else what she supposed to say? Yeah, things were better. When you've already died things can only go up, right?

Dr. Saltzman gave her a weary look and cast his eyes down towards the note book. Before the doctor could write anything down, Elle opened her mouth and gave him what he wanted. She knew that as much as she hated to be here, as much as she hated the shrink, this was only going to end when she started to try. She needed to have some improvement on her "report card" to show Glasses.

So with a sigh, she added, "It's… yeah, well it's better. The nightmares are less frequent, and I guess it helps knowing that he's never going to hurt me again." It was difficult trying to open up when there were certain things she had to keep her mouth shut about. Like the fact that she could send enough voltage of electricity through his body to kill him in an instant. Or maybe the fact that she had remarkably risen from the dead after the man, whom she once believed she loved, sliced open her head with his mind. Yeah, things like that.

"This relationship has to be built on honestly", Dr. Saltzman had once said.

"Honesty my ass", Elle thought, as she once again reminded herself why she hated these sessions. "As long as he gets paid, he'll go home happy to his loving family."

But Elle supposed she could get through the tedious session with the truths (or half truths) that she could tell.

"You know, since I entered the witness protection program."

Not completely true, but true enough. The change of name wasn't so much to keep her hidden from Sylar. She couldn't really hide from him, if he was ever compelled to find her. No, it was more necessary because once you've been declared a dangerous threat to national security it was smarter just to start off fresh. She couldn't understand why Bennet had shown so much kindness to her in the past few months. She guessed it had to with his degenerating relationship with his precious cheerleader, so Elle had suddenly become the surrogate daughter. But whatever the reason, Bennet had given her a place to stay, some fake documents (which stated that her name was Elle Rains), and an order to see a shrink twice a week to help her "sort through her issues". The downside to the change of name was that it made it very difficult to collect inheritance money, especially when the devil-incarnated-herself was the last known head of company. Mama Petrelli had done everything in her power to make sure Elle got the short end of the stick, and so far, Elle was loosing.

Dr. Saltzman cleared his throat. "So you know that logically it makes no sense to still have this fear-"

"I'm not scared." Elle stated simply, because she wasn't. The nightmares were just there. It didn't mean that she couldn't handle herself.

The doctor let that one slide. "Okay then. So why do you think you still have these recurring dreams?"

"I don't know." Elle spit with the least amount of venom that she could muster.

Dr. Saltzman saw that Elle was reaching her breaking point and decided to change direction.

"This has been very productive today Elle. I think we're almost done. Just one last question."

Elle sat expectantly, waiting for the doctor to continue.

"Can you give me another word?"

Elle felt the stinging in her eyes, but refused to let the tears fall. She should have saw this coming. Dr. Saltzman usually asked this once every two weeks. A word association of how she was feeling, since she couldn't yet bring herself to talk about the "incident" in coherent sentences. Dr. Saltzman knew this and Elle was thankful that he wasn't like the other doctors who had pushed her again and again as a child. Elle raked her brain for a word. All the other words she had used up until now consumed her thoughts: nothing, angry, depressed, desolate, alone, numb, tired, despair.

Elle looked calmly into the doctors eyes and muttered, "Dead."

Glasses was waiting outside the room when Dr. Saltzman and Elle returned to the waiting area. Bennet walked briskly over towards the doctor and they began what looked like a serious conversation in hushed tones. Elle could have cared less. She turned away from the little meeting and walked over to the fish tank. While she watched the fish swim around she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the glass. She saw a crease appear between her eyebrows and rubbed her forehead where a huge red scar should have been a constant reminder.

"Elle." She heard Bennet call from behind her.

She turned around to see that he and Dr. Saltzman had finished whatever conversation that they had. She turned her gaze on the doctor and gave him a small smile.

"Thanks Doc. See you later." She said with a mocking salute.

He smiled ruefully and then turned back to his office. Elle liked him. Well, as much as she could like any shrink. She turned and followed Bennet out of the building. It wasn't until they reached the apartment that he was renting for her, that Elle finally breached the subject.

"So what were you and the doc talking about?" she questioned him.

Bennet took off his glasses and started to wipe them. "You have to move Elle."

Elle laughed before she saw the serious look on his face.

"You're serious?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I'm going to work for the government."

Elle's hands became alit with a small blue ball of electricity. "Are you out of your mind?" she asked baring her teeth.

"Calm down Elle. I need the inside scoop, and to be honest, some of you do deserve to be locked up. What's so different between this operation and The Company? Bag and tag. That's all I've ever known. It's what I'm good at."

"Some of _you _deserve to be locked up? And am I included in this? What about _Claire-bear_?" Elle overdramatically thrust her now non-alit hands towards him. "Should I just let you cuff me now and save you all the hassle?"

Bennet rolled his eyes. "No. That's why I'm telling you to move. I'm going to have to prove that I'm on their side and keeping specials hidden isn't going to go over so well. Claire gets a free pass because of Nathan, but I don't think they'll be so kind in your case, especially with you're record. Listen, on paper, you're a threat. You're dangerous and catatonic and a sociopath."

"Wow, Bennet. You really know how to get on someone's good side."

He looked seriously at Elle. "But, I think you've changed, at least a bit. Keep under the radar, move to a quiet little town, get a job, and I'll try as hard as I can to keep the search focused on Sylar and other noteworthy criminals. In the mean time, I'll also keep looking into the legal stuff for you. I'll keep you posted if I find a way to get you your money."

Elle felt grateful for everything that Bennet was offering to do for her. She also felt uncomfortable having someone do something like this for her, so she responded in the only way she knew how: sarcasm.

"Would you look at that? Bennet has a heart after all. Are you turning soft?"

Bennet laughed at her defence mechanism but took it. It was the closest he would ever get to gratitude from Elle.

"Maybe so."

Elle opened up her car door and started to get out. She had a lot of things to get in order. Before she left, she turned around.

"So I'll see you around?"

"I hope you take no offence Elle, but I sure as hell hope not."

They both laughed.

"Yeah, same to you. Thanks Noah."

And with that Elle closed the car door.

Two weeks later Elle drove her cheap old 1981 Cavalier past the town sign that welcomed her to the quiet, quaint town of Mystic Falls.


	2. Order Up

**Author's Note: If anyone who reads this (probably not a lot of people) has any suggestions for future chapters or interaction between the two, feel free to say so. And if you do like it, could you pretty please (with a cherry on top) leave a review/constructive criticism? Thank you. It honestly makes my day.**

"Order up!" Elle chimed to the kitchen as she placed her first order of the day.

If she wasn't in such a down right horrible mood, she may have been able to laugh at the irony of the situation. She could vaguely recall Bennet once suggesting to her that she get a job as a waitress. If he was someone she felt like she could truly trust, she may have called him up to tell him about the situation; her new job, her new apartment, her new life. But alas, Bennet was and would always be morally grey and Elle knew better than to trust him. She knew better than to trust anyone. So that left Elle alone, in the dismally small town of Mystic Falls, living day to day as she struggled with her new completely normal and completely boring life.

"Umm, excuse me?"

With a little bit of difficulty, she smiled and turned to the annoying teenager who had just spoken.

"How may I help you?" Elle asked.

The blond girl in the booth smiled and began to place her order, oblivious to Elle's fake helpfulness. Elle was a good actor; every company girl was.

"Can I get the Caesar salad please and an iced tea, and…" The girl gestured to her friend and Elle turned expectantly on the dark-skinned girl beside her.

"I'll just have a coke, thanks." The brunette replied sullenly.

"Sure thing." Elle replied with chipper enthusiasm, overtly ignoring the fact that the second girl was obviously depressed. Not her business, nor did she care. As she was about to walk away the blonde stopped her again.

"Oh, and can you tell Matt that I say "hi"?"

Elle barely nodded and headed off again, placed the order and walked over to Matt, the bartender.

"Blondie over there wanted to say "hi"."

He looked over to where Blondie sat and gave a quick wave to her enthusiastic one, then laughed.

"Yeah, that's Caroline, my girlfriend."

Matt had a good sense of humour so Elle felt no need to apologize for the name-calling.

"She seems… dumb." Elle continued while she was ahead.

"Ouch." Matt laughed then turned to Elle. "Are you always this judgemental?"

"Mostly." Elle shrugged.

She grabbed a coke and an iced tea and returned to the table.

"…I mean, it was soooooo awkward. Can you imagine? Bonnie? Bonnie? Are you even listening to me?" Caroline questioned.

"Yeah, I'm listening. That sounds really awkward. Sorry."

Caroline continued, unfazed by Bonnie's lack of interest. "Not like I care right? Damon and I, well, that was obviously purely a physical attraction, but I feel sorry for Matt. I mean, his mom, right? He left straight after that, and I had to get a ride with Elena, which was also weird… we got into a little bit of a fight earlier in the night."

"Here's your drinks." Elle announced as she placed their drinks on the table, hoping that by announcing her presence they would stop talking about personal things in such loud voices.

Her hope went unanswered as Caroline resumed her conversation as soon as the two girls had given their thanks. Elle turned to clean up another table. Just as she was picking up a pair of glasses, the front door opened. The new customer was a man who looked to be about Elle's age, dressed in a completely black outfit, leather jacket included. He was the complete definition of tall, dark and handsome, Elle could not deny that. But while his attractiveness may have been the reason for her initial attention, it was the darkness brooding underneath that held her eye for a second too long. The man caught Elle staring and gave her a smirk, but instead of casting her glance away, embarrassed at being caught, Elle returned the gesture with her own little smirk.

"Would you look at that? Speak of the devil…"

The man's smile widened at Caroline's comment, almost as if he had heard it, then he headed towards the bar. Elle followed, cued by Matt's obvious discomfort. Matt met her half way.

"Hey, I'm going to take my break now. Would you mind covering for me?" Matt begged.

"Sure."

Elle walked behind the bar and greeted the man, who she assumed to be the Damon that Caroline had spoken of earlier.

"What can I do for you?" Elle asked flirtatiously, as she leaned across the bar.

"Bourbon… rocks."

Elle tried for another second to grab his attention. When that failed, she stood upright and started to prepare his drink. She was a little thrown off by the fact that her flirting had failed to grab his attention, because she was used to getting what she wanted. Most men did fall for her charm. Most men were easy. But she didn't allow it to deter her. She would just simply have to try a different approach.

"You're new here. Miss Rains, I presume." He added smugly.

Elle placed his drink in front of him. "Am I supposed to be worried that you've heard about me?"

"Well that depends…" He took a drink. "…on what I've heard."

"If I were you, I would be more concerned about what people say about you in this town."

He glanced over his shoulder at the table where the two girls sat.

"Caroline? She seems kind of… dumb, don't you think? I wouldn't take what she says at face value."

Elle hid her shock at his choice of words. Maybe he was telepathic.

"So you didn't sleep with Matt's mother?" She jeered back.

"Nope."

Elle's cheeks started to flush with embarrassment, as she chastised herself for believing Blondie's gossip.

"I didn't have the chance after my brother's little slumber party crashed the night."

Elle shook her head but smiled. When she glanced back at him, she caught a glimpse of something in his eyes before he quickly returned to his cool façade.

"Elle Bishop." She offered as she stuck out her hand.

"Damon Salvatore."

He took her hand in his own and kissed her hand lightly. He released her hand and finished up his drink, before depositing a bill on the counter.

"Pleasure to meet you… Miss Bishop." Damon said as he stood up.

It wasn't until Damon Salvatore left the bar, it wasn't until Elle registered the coldness of her own hand, it wasn't until the kitchen bell rang, signifying that the food was up, that Elle realized her mistake; she had introduced herself by her real name.

**Dun dun duuunnnn!**


	3. One New Message

"One new message. Beep!

Hello Elle. It's Dr. Saltzman. I wanted to check up to see how you're adjusting to the new town… and to remind you that it is important that you pick up your medication. The pharmacist call-Beep!"

Elle stopped the message before she had to listen to anymore. She would have to call back and thank the Doc for suggesting Mystical Falls to her.

"Oh yes. Nice little town. My brother lives there." She recalled him saying. Elle snorted. More like, a nice little town where he knew people and therefore could keep tabs on her. She walked into her living room/kitchen/dinning room and sat down in front of the old computer screen. She opened up the Prima Tech website which (lucky for her), still held all the company's files, if you had a password and the authorization to access them. Being the daughter of the head of the company had its perks. While Elle's access codes wouldn't have allowed her to see all files, her daddy's sure did. Elle typed in her father's information and logged on to the data base before typing in "Damon Salvatore" into the search. No results. There were absolutely no files on a Mr. Damon Salvatore. This should have calmed her, but instead she kept on searching frantically. She knew for sure that there was something different about him; her best guess was telepath. But the lack of results did not deter her from what she knew to be true. All this meant was that he was not in the system, which made her more anxious. If you knew your opponent, you knew their weaknesses, which made them less of a threat. Elle didn't like going in blind. Telepaths were tricky, because they could either be harmless or very skilled, depending on the control of their ability. With a sigh, she closed the data base down and started to get ready for bed. She closed her eyes and tried, like countless of nights before, to fall asleep without dreaming. And like those other countless nights, she failed.

There was always a swirl of images: water, sand, brown eyes, blood, a bird, blackness. Then slowly but surely, the images would dissolve into a scene. She was standing on a small cliff side, over looking a beach a few feet away. There, stood a little boy, with sandy blonde hair and brown eyes. He turned and smiled at Elle. He had her father's smile. Elle tried to return the smile, but somewhere deep inside her, she knew that something was wrong. Suddenly the water started to rise up and crash around the boy. He couldn't swim! He was drowning! Elle tried to save him, but she couldn't move. She knew it would have been hopeless anyway, since she couldn't swim, but she had to try. Something, someone was holding her back. She turned around and there he was. Those dark eyes, and cynical smile. She was on the ground now, in the sand, and he was on top of her.

"No one ever changes, Elle."

"Stop! I have to save him! He'll die!"

Sylar smiled. "That's your fault."

Elle felt her strength fading from her. "Stop. He'll die."

"I know."

There was pain. There was darkness. There was a pair of blue eyes. Then the images swirled around again: water, sand, brown eyes, blood, a bird, blackness.

"STOP!"

Elle jolted upright as she awoke from another dream. Well, not another dream; it was always the same one. She wiped the sweat off her forehead and tried to forget why her heart was racing a million miles a minute.

"Just a dream." She reminded herself out loud.

Elle lay back down, but all too sudden, the feeling of utter helplessness returned and she sat back up again. She couldn't lie down. Not right now. It seemed all too familiar. She stood up and went to look out her street-facing window. As she approached the window, a startled crow flew away into the night.

Elle's mundane life continued on slowly. She had officially been in Mystic Falls for a month now and as a result, knew the names of most of its inhabitants. But the one whom she was most interested in had seemed to be avoiding her. It had been a week since the first and only time she'd met Damon Salvatore. However, she'd seen his brother a fair amount. The younger Salvatore, Stefan, had been seen frequently in the Mystic Grill with his attached-at-the-hip-girlfriend Elena. Something also seemed off about Stefan, but whatever it was, he was more successful at hiding it than his older brother was. Had Elle not known of the relation, she would have shrugged Stefan's behaviour off as just being an odd kid.

It was close to closing time and only a couple in a booth and the regular drunk at the bar were left in the building. The other servers had already done their cash out and had left, leaving the new girl with clean up duty. The lone couple got up and headed for the front door. Elle, who had been ready to pounce, stepped out from behind the bar and started for the table to clean up.

"'Kay bud. I'm closing up soon. Final call was twenty minutes ago. Time for you to go home." She called over her shoulder to the man amiably. She liked Earl. He always kept her company until closing time, even if he was semi-incoherent by the end of the night.

"What place you gunna go…?" Earl slurred… incoherently.

She turned expectantly on him.

"If you're trying to pick me up Earl, it's not going to happen."

"Oh come on. You gunna what?"

"What did I say last time?"

Earl smiled. "Gotto hell."

Elle returned the smile. "Sentiment is still the same." She joked.

With a little more persistence Earl was out the door and Elle followed twenty minutes after. She locked up and threw her bag over her shoulder. As she stepped out from under the protection of the building, she realized with dismay that it was raining.

"Just my luck." She muttered under her breath.

Elle took a deep breath and started to walk briskly towards her apartment. It was quite a ways across town, but in a town this small, transportation was hard to come by late at night. As she crossed the street Elle noticed a shadow lurking behind her. She turned around expectantly; nothing was there. Elle continued down the street, quickening her pace. Again, she saw a shadow pass from behind her and she turned: nothing. A small shiver ran up her spine. Just then she heard a loud, shrill cry of a crow. Elle jumped and looked up, where a crow was sitting on one of the store window sills.

"Stupid bird." It let out another cry in response.

Elle shook her head, ashamed at being so startled from a bird. She turned around, set on going home, but as she did she came face to face with an unfamiliar man.

"Oh my god." Elle jumped back. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

The man looked to be in his mid thirties, with dark facial hair.

"I'm sorry to have scared you." The man gestured towards an umbrella that he was carrying. "I was hoping I could lend a hand."

The way the man spoke, instantly gave Elle the creeps.

"Thanks, but I'm almost home so…" Elle tried to by step him, but the man stepped out in front of her. As if on cue the rain started to come down harder.

"You want me to walk you home." The man looked into Elle's eyes as he commanded her.

Elle paused for a moment, and then realized the stupidity of her paranoia. Here was a nice man offering to shelter her from the rain, which she hated so much.

Elle smiled charmingly. "Will you walk me home? I only live a few blocks away and I'm drenched." She batted her eyes for extra measure.

The man smiled menacingly. "But of course."

The two walked down the street under the shelter of the umbrella. Another cry caused Elle to turn and face the persistent bird.

"What the hell?"

"Is there something the matter?" The man asked, seeming perturbed that they had stopped.

"I swear, this bird's stalking me."

The man's eyes turned into slits and he became even more agitated.

"Come on, let's go." He said gruffly as he pulled violently at Elle's arm.

Almost as if by instinct, Elle sent off an electrical surge through her attacker and herself. They both yelped in pain. The man stumbled away, then turned sharply on Elle, eyes black and his face covered in veins, his fangs barred.

"What the hell are you?" he spat at her.

Elle started to run down the street, away from his demon black eyes. But as she turned a corner, the man stood there waiting. She swung her bag at his face. He didn't even flinch. She threw a punch but he caught her hand with unnatural speed. Elle whimpered in pain as he crushed her fist. The man stood bearing over her, smiling, laughing, enjoying the hunt. Without a second thought she attacked him with as many volts as she could manage. As the blue strings of electricity left her hands, Elle could feel it circling back towards her, attracted to her soaked clothing. When the electricity stopped coursing through their bodies, they both fell to the ground. Elle tried to use what little strength she had left to get to her feet again, but before she could manage, she saw her attacker rising. He turned those eyes on her again. He was furious.

"I've been further than being close to death before; I've died." Elle thought to herself. "This time, I won't go down without a fight."

With her last bout of strength she attacked the man with everything she had. And the world faded to black.


	4. Elle Rains

"Elle Rains – the new waitress."

"I know who she is. My question is what the hell are you doing Damon?"

Elle slowly felt herself regaining consciousness as the two male voices broke through her dreaming state.

"Lending my bed. What does it look like _Stefan_? And you're supposed to be the smart one."

Elle recognised _his_ voice. She forced herself to keep her eyes close as she listened in on the growing argument.

"I'm smart enough to realize that this is a bad idea. With everything going on, the last thing we need is another _mysterious_ animal attack. You promised."

"I did nothing of the sorts. I promised to keep a low profile…"

"What did you do? Are those-"

"I didn't do that to her."

There was a beat of silence. Elle could guess what they were talking about. Her body ached all over, in a way that reminded her of something her mind had forgotten, but her body never could. She tensed.

"Look, I found her passed out on the street. Those are probably from a mugger, abusive boyfriend. Take your pick. But I didn't touch her."

"A mugging down town Mystic Falls?" the voice (which must have belonged to Stefan) asked incredulously.

"I said take your pick."

There were bruises, most definitely. But were there burns? The memory of the man with the black eyes came rushing back. She flinched, remembering the storm of electricity that had caused her to black out.

"Look what you've done, little brother. You've gone and awoken our guest."

Elle figured it was time to "wake up". She kept up the act as she slowly opened her eyes, fluttering them as the bright sun streamed in.

"Good morning sunshine."

Elle turned towards a pair of brilliant blue eyes. He gave her a charming smile.

"Where am I?" she asked, still acting disoriented.

Elle glanced around the room. It was lavishly decorated. Books covered the wall, high tech computer in the corner, workout station in another corner. It was the ultimate bachelor pad, complete with a huge pillow filled bed, where Elle was currently resting. Damon sat at the end of the bed, starring intently at her. Stefan must have slipped out before she opened her eyes.

"Welcome to my humble estate."

Elle quickly ran through the conversation that she had just heard, trying to decipher the odd comments. But the first thing she realized was that Damon had introduced her by her alias.

"Thanks for-"

Elle trailed off as she saw him put a finger to his mouth. She waited for him to give her the go ahead, getting more frustrated every second. A car door opened outside and then closed. It was only after the car could be heard pulling out of the driveway that Damon finally moved an inch.

"I wanted to say thanks for calling me Rains. I know that the last time we met I said my name was Bishop. You see I got confused. Bishop is my ex-fiancée's name and-"

"Before you thank me for saving your ass, you owe me some answers, Miss. Rains."

Elle bit back her anger. She didn't like being cut off, and she didn't like someone else having the upper hand. And she absolutely hated having to owe someone something.

"I don't owe you anything." Elle pushed the covers off of her. "Thank you for giving me a place to stay, I'll leave now."

Elle swung her feet over the side of the bed. Before she could take two steps, she felt her knees buckle from underneath her and saw the floor coming at her fast. Suddenly, a pair of cool hands was at her waist, holding her up. Elle looked up at his smiling face. Damon stifled a laugh.

"Don't. Touch. Me." Elle growled.

"Why? Are you going to electrocute me?"

Elle's eyes grew wide with shock.

"Yeah, I know your little secret." He smirked. "Now why don't you sit back down before you fall over and get knocked out again."

Damon gestured to the bed with one hand, still holding onto Elle's waist with the other.

"Fine." Elle muttered.

She walked cautiously over towards the bed and sat down, crossed her arms and tried her damnedest not to pout. Damon pulled a stool up to face Elle and sat down.

"So Miss. Bishop, why the name change?"

"Witness protection program." Elle lied easily.

"Any relation to the late Mr. Robert Bishop, millionaire investor of gold stocks?"

Elle was a little annoyed that he had researched her, but to be fair, so had she. Only she hadn't been as lucky in her research. One of the pitfalls of being an heiress; you were one Google search away – well at least her father was. Elle on the other hand was one of her father's best kept secrets. Nothing like a sociopath, lab-rat daughter to grab the media's attention. Elle considered lying again, but decided against it. What was the point now?

"He's my father… was my father."

"Why Mystic Falls?" Damon continued, as if he hadn't heard the hurt in Elle's voice.

"Why so many questions?" Elle jeered back. "Listen buddy, why don't you stop beating around the bush and skip to what you really want to know." Elle smiled back viciously. "But I should warn you, if I tell you, I might just have to kill you. And believe me, I could."

Elle congratulated herself inwardly. She liked the way she sounded: menacing. To Elle's dismay, Damon only smiled.

"I'd like to see you try." He raised an eyebrow, almost invitingly.

Elle turned away.

"_Damn it!"_ She thought.

He was exactly her type. Tall, dark, unbelievably handsome and probably exactly the type of guy she should avoid. After all, she had a bad track record of falling for the wrong type of guys. Elle turned back to him suddenly, determined to gain the upper hand again.

"So, were you following me last night?"

"Maybe."

"But you saw what I could do?"

"Possibly."

Elle gritted her teeth at his half-answers. "And you brought me here?"

"Yes."

"Finally." Elle thought. "A concrete answer."

Another thought suddenly occurred to Elle.

"What happened to that man?" She questioned, honestly curious. The last she could remember, he was getting up. Elle had thought for sure that she was a goner. It also occurred to Elle that maybe she did owe Damon something – her life.

Damon shrugged. "I took care of him."

"But he… his eyes. His teeth!" Elle shook her head. "Definitely must have been a Regen and a Telepath too, what with me completely changing my mind all of a sudden. But something more. Another Sylar? I've never heard of an ability that would cause that type of-"

"Who's Sylar?" Damon asked.

Elle shut her mouth abruptly. She hadn't realized that she had been speaking out loud. She sidestepped his question, and asked one of her own.

"Why bother asking?" She was going on a whim now, but she felt fairly confident. "You're a Telepath, right?"

"Of sorts." Damon smiled and Elle couldn't help but feel like she wasn't on the in with his little joke.

"Well I'm impressed. You must be pretty good in order to take that guy down." Elle complimented him, before she thought better of it. "I would have been able to, if it hadn't been for the rain."

"I bet you could." Damon smiled charmingly, the kind of smile that Elle used to make men do her bidding.

Elle's stomach rumbled rather loudly, causing the intense conversation to a close.

"I'm being a horrible host aren't I? You must be starved." His eyes grew a little before returning to his usual through-the-eyelashes stare, complimented with a signature smirk. "I know I am."

Elle decided not to linger too much on what he could possibly mean. She assumed he was making some sexual innuendo, but she had no intention of being so easy today. The last time she tried sleeping with someone dangerous, he killed her in the same day. Elle was more concerned with self preservation at the moment; dying had that affect on you.

Elle rose indignantly, making sure not to stumble this time, as Damon showed her out of the room. As Elle left the room, she couldn't help but steal a quick glance at a small old-looking picture on his bedside table… of his brother's girlfriend.


End file.
